The U.S. Department of the Treasury published a "Comptroller's Handbook," a document that discussed the changing role of both insurance and all methods of minimizing losses in organizations all over the United States. According to the Treasury, rising insurance premiums and in some cases, a company's inability to insure every risk no matter how much they are willing to spend has changed the nature of the way organization's prepare for potential hazards.

An article in Risk Management Magazine called "The War on Error: Human Errors as a Strategic Management Concern," reveals that common and preventable errors can rob organizations of resources. Not only do errors have the potential to increase losses and reduce profits, they also have the potential to leak out of your company and cause damage to your hard-won reputation and company brand.

A Business Insurance article, "Data Integrity Problem is Creating Converts," revealed some stunning examples of data errors that could have cost the owners of that data lots of money. In one case, a state organization had records of millions of dollars of claims over the amount that they actually made. In another example, a company had million of dollars of extra losses reported in error. Both of these cases could cost money because of higher insurance premiums, bad information to base decisions upon, or reports about a company that appeared less profitable than it actually was.

All insurance relies upon spreading the risk between a variety of customers. Actuaries and underwriters rely upon historical data in order to set rates that should cover anticipated claims, allow their company a profit, and keep them competitive in the marketplace. While insurers partially base their rates upon the overall risk for certain types of companies in a certain area, they also consider each individual company's data.

An insured business that purchases property in a hazardous area or has suffered a lot of recent work injuries might get an increase in their premiums when the next renewal date rolls around. Conversely, companies that implement measures to reduce risks might be able to negotiate substantial discounts.

In the worst case, delays in the renewal process could interrupt timely policy implementation. That could easily become a catastrophe because it might violate contracts and even expose a company to grievous losses. Even if a business enjoys a successful insurance renewal in January or June, that doesn't mean the process was as effective or streamlined as it could have been. If there is no time to negotiate premiums or review coverage, it isn't likely that a business made the most our of their opportunity. Common mistakes create delays and inefficiencies that could have been avoided by proactively taking steps to avoid them.

Company managers and executives might complain that the renewal process is inefficient because they are not getting the right answers from their brokers. However, good answers usually only come after asking the right questions. Consider these four questions to ask a commercial insurance broker long before renewal dates roll around. The answers to these questions will help to ensure that companies are doing their part to optimize the renewal process, and that they have selected the right broker in the first place.

It seems that every industry has its one really big industry-wide event every year, and for us in the business of technology for risk, insurance and safety management, it’s the RIMS Annual Conference & Exhibition. Taking place next week in New Orleans, RIMS 2015 is the place that exhibitors like Ventiv Technology showcase the newest innovations and enhancements to their products.

In order to enjoy the best results from the commercial insurance renewal process, there are plenty of things that need to get done. Managers need to collect a variety of information, validate it, report upon it, meet about it, and then submit it to brokers. After brokers return quotes, those quotes and policies need to get reviewed by management, and typically, negotiated with the broker and insurers.

Most risk managers already know what information they need to provide to their broker and insurance company for price quotes and policy details. They also understand what needs to get done with those quotes before policies get renewed. However, what risk managers don't do might be just as critical as what they get done.

When most people sing the praises of a risk management information system, or RMIS, they focus on the way that the systems streamline commercial insurance renewals. However, these consolidated sources of information are also valuable because of the reports and analytics that they can produce to help specialists understand what types of hazards they need to protect their company against in the first place. This information can help companies reduce their risks and negotiate better insurance coverage or cheap premiums.

Risk specialists usually regard the few weeks before January and June renewals as a critical period. At that point, right before renewals are due, the entire department might need to scramble around to research and fix errors, consolidate data, review quotes, provide brokers and underwriters with missing information, and get approval from financial officers. Meanwhile, the success or failure of these activities could reflect on the company and risk management department for the entire next year.

Most of us who are involved in insurance renewals know that the process actually happens 365 days a year and seven days a week. The day after yearly renewals, an incident or change could happen that will impact the next renewal. However, most risk managers and brokers consider the 30 to 60 days before renewals to be a very critical – it’s crunch time. For risk managers, this short period may be when they really demonstrate their worth to their companies, and potentially earn salaries for the rest of the year.

In some ways, the insurance renewal process actually happens 365 days per year. On any day, an incident could occur that would negatively impact next year's premiums. Alternatively, safety programs and improvements to property could be made that will allow companies to reduce their premiums. Of course, one way to ensure that all information is in place to expedite the actual renewal process is to use risk management software that properly validates data entered from departments, consolidates it all in one place, and produces reports. Since information gets entered in real time, there should be no last minute crunch to access all of the information needed for renewals.

When most business people discuss commercial liability insurance, they refer to a general liability policy, sometimes abbreviated as CGL, for commercial general liability. Typically, these policies provide a package of protection for companies in the event they get accused of causing damages or injuries. In today's litigious society, CGL is an important part of protecting cash flow and risk management.

At Ventiv Technology, we have been in the risk management business for four decades and take it very seriously. We pride ourselves on helping our clients save money, improve safety, and streamline their risk management and policy administration process. However, because our platform saves time, money, and aggravation, our clients tend to find more time for a bit of levity.

If you're still working for a company with an old-fashioned process that manages insurance renewals the old way, we're already sure that there are plenty of things you would not only rather do, but should do, than babysit commercial insurance renewals.

Risk analysts are responsible for many aspects of spotting, managing, and reducing risks for their company. There are different types of risk analysts, but many work to reduce operational risks. Putting proper insurance coverage in place is pivotal to this effort.

In fact, insurance underwriters are also risk analysts, and underwriters work on the insurance company side of the commercial insurance renewal process. While large companies have their own risk management departments, many small and medium businesses rely heavily upon their insurers to help them identify and manage potential hazards. Underwriters don't just price policies but also analyze companies and make suggestions that can reduce financial and safety hazards for their customers.

For a company of any size, a proper renewal process requires passing a lot of information back and forth from the company to the insurer. With larger companies, information also needs to get collected from several different departments that may maintain their own information systems with multiple databases and/or spreadsheets. All of this leads into the proper tools for risk analysts to use to make the entire commercial insurance renewal process more streamlined, efficient, and even beneficial.

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This is the go-to source for risk, insurance and safety managers to get reliable, informative knowledge and commentary relevant to you and your work. Visit the 3SIXTY blog to engage Ventiv technology experts in risk, insurance and safety.